Like the comic book characters who inspired them, the BoxingWatchers are dedicated to observe all of the biggest fights the sweet science has to offer. With no insider access to the sport, they record what they've seen here. The BoxingWatchers are passionate fans who pledge to bring you intelligent opinions, predictions, reviews and commentary.

7.11.07

In just a few minutes, I'll be posting the first monthly power rankings for BoxingWatchers.com. You can't have a boxing site without rankings, after all, and they're great for sparking debate, which is a nicer way to say arguments.

To help explain our rankings, it's easiest to start with what they are not. The power rankings are not an attempt to put together a pound-for-pound list of the best boxers in the world. A lot of people with a lot more experience watching boxing already do that, and "best" is so subjective in boxing that it's almost absurd.

Instead, think of these rankings as a pseudo-scientific way of measuring who's recently been performing the best against the best competition. For recently, I decided on the past three years, just because that seemed like a good period of time to define the state of a boxer's career right now.

The numbers that go into the rankings are a combination of math and arcane magic - like the BCS formula! - but they are designed to reward some things the Boxing Watchers like:

1) Activity - You can't score points if you don't fight. This hurts some boxers who are unquestionably fantastic, like Bernard Hopkins. Those are the breaks.

2) Winning decisively - Thus, a KO win is worth more points than a unanimous decision, which is worth more than a split decision. A loss gets you negative points.

3) Quality of competition - All wins aren't created equal. To account for this fact, the points a boxer gets for a win are adjusted based on the winning percentage his opponent had over the three years prior to that particular fight.

There are a couple more things that go into it, and the list of people to rank in the first place is subjective - there's no getting around that. Is it perfect? Probably not, but we're OK with that. Enjoy the rankings, or don't, and be sure to let us know what you think either way.